Fox’s ‘Machete’ gets release date

Rodriquez-helmed film set to bow September 3

Twentieth Century Fox and Robert Rodriquez will wield their machetes over Labor Day weekend.

Studio has set Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis’ “Machete” for release in theaters on Sept. 3. Pic is based on Rodriguez’s fake trailer for “Grindhouse.”

Rodriguez and Maniquis co-directed the film from Rodriquez’s script.

“Machete” stars Danny Trejo as a blade-wielding Mexican ex-Federale who is double-crossed by a crooked politician. Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriquez and Lindsay Lohan also star.

Producers are Rodriquez, Rick Schwartz, Aaron Kaufman, Iliana Nikolic and Elizabeth Avellan.The “Machete” trailer generated big interest when airing on YouTube. The feature-length version was financed by Overnight Prods., who sold off international rights to Sony and several territory distributors. That provided the bulk of the money needed to shoot the film, which Rodriguez lensed last fall in Austin, Texas.

Labor Day weekend is a popular frame for genre films. Also opening that weekend is Sony’s comedy “Born to Be a Star.” Two days earlier, Focus Features’ opens George Clooney pic “The American.”

“Machete” reunites Fox and Rodriguez, who worked on the “Predators” franchise together.

In January, Fox won a bidding war to distribute the film domestically, beating out Paramount and Lionsgate.